Writing Mentor Texts for Kindergarten, First, and Second Grade

A while back, I compiled a list of narrative, opinion/persuasive, and informational mentor texts for primary students. A bit of time has passed, so I’ve decided to update that list and include additional awesome books that I’ve found!

In today’s post, I’ll share a list of outstanding mentor texts, grouped by genre. I’ll also share five important tips for using mentor texts to teach writing in the primary grades, so be sure to read to the end of the post!

Photo credit: Tiplyashina Evgeniya, Shutterstock

The books listed below are best for use with Kindergarten, first, or second grade. The ones that are most appropriate for Kindergarten are *starred* (not to say that any of the books would be inappropriate for Kindergarten, but having taught this grade, I know that some books are a little too long for the little ones!).

Within the lists, I’ve linked to these books on Amazon, so you can quickly and easily add them to your cart or wishlist!

All of these texts can be used with my Kindergarten, first, or second grade writing units or writing bundles, which you can find here:

Five Tips for Using Mentor Texts

Now that I’ve shared some of my favorite mentor texts, let’s talk about how to use them effectively in the classroom! Here are five things that I do when working with writing mentor texts:

1. Before utilizing a book as a mentor text, I read it aloud to students for purposes of enjoyment and comprehension. Students need an opportunity to understand, enjoy, and discuss a text before they are asked to think about it as writers. I always read aloud the mentor text a day or two before I use it in a writing lesson.

2. I use modeling and clear, explicit language to teach students how to “read as writers.” I explain that people read books for many purposes – for pleasure, to learn, and to grow as writers. I like to read a familiar book aloud to students and think aloud as I “read it as a writer.” I comment on what I notice about character development, how the author introduces a problem, the author’s word choice, the author’s use of punctuation marks, how the illustrations complement the words, and so on.

3. I use the same mentor text for multiple writing lessons. While it’s helpful to expose students to many different mentor texts, you can also use a single text for multiple minilessons. In my second grade writing workshop curriculum, for example, I use the book Amazing Grace (Mary Hoffman) to teach students how to include a problem in a story, write a strong ending, and incorporate dialogue. This saves us time, because students are already familiar with the text so we can dive right into the teaching point of the minilesson.

4. I use mentor texts to guide my own planning. When I sit down to plan a writing unit, I sometimes struggle to determine what, exactly, I want my students to be able to do as writers of the genre we’re working on. When this happens, I spend some time carefully examining mentor texts on my own. For example, if I’m planning a nonfiction unit, I take out a couple of children’s nonfiction books and pay attention to how the authors convey information. Are examples given? Does the author provide definitions of important works? Is the information organized into categories – and if so, how? These are all strategies that I can teach students to use as they learn nonfiction writing.

5. I teach students to learn about writing from the books they read independently. I show students that, as they read, they can also grow as writers. You might have students keep a list of interesting words they find in books, and then encourage them to share these words with the class and try them out in their own writing.

Do you have any favorite mentor texts or tips for using them? Please comment below – I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Hi Sandra! Most of them are from Shutterstock.com, but some are from Pixabay. 🙂

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3 years ago

Beth

Great resources, thanks. I appreciate seeing some female and minority authors and characters, and encourage you to keep up the good work!

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3 years ago

Debbie Krueger

This is is a super resource! I’m always on the lookout for mentor texts for writing. I’m so glad for your email about this – I just recently subscribed to it. I also bought your complete writing bundle this week and am delighted with it. Thank you!

Hi Alison and thank you for this. We are a tc school and are building our k mentor text reaching text collections and I was wondering if you could suggest a few for Non Fiction and How To ( beyond the Gail Gibbons). For example I want to emphasize certain elements such as bold words for both caution and new or important words -not just for the index. I would love a few ideas that you use or feel are your go to titles for non fiction and how to Thank you for any ideas and the resource list above.… Read more »

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2 years ago

Danielle

Is there a link somewhere that I can download just the list of books? I want to be able to save it and I don’t see a list in the post, just it listed with links. Thank you for all of your hard work!

Hi Danielle! I don’t have these particular books in a list form, but I do have the mentor texts I use with my Kinder, 1st, and 2nd grade writing units in document form. If you’re interested, you are welcome to email me and I will send it over to you! 🙂

Alison

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2 years ago

Paula

Hello Alison, I would also love the mentor text list in document form for Kindergarten and grade 1.

Hey Anny! I love Jack Prelutsky, Shel Silverstein, and the Random House Book of Poetry for Children. 🙂

Alison

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1 year ago

Julie

Such a perfect list of books for each genre! Thank you!! 🙂

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1 year ago

Leslie

Wow! This was an awesome resource. I have been teaching math, science, and health only for a while. Now I have to get back in the grove of teaching reading language arts and writing. Writing doesn’t get the proper time like it should in my class. So reading your blog and doing your workshop will help me become more efficient when teaching writing.